Flower of Hitsuzen
by NnytheStampede
Summary: Fourth One Shot Up.
1. Flower of Inevatibility

xxx-Holic

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Don't own them, just play with them. Flames will be printed, and taped to cupboards to be mocked and laughed at in the mornings.

A oneshot for now.

Flower of Inevitability

_The three of them lay beneath me, shaded from the afternoon sun. I marvel as each of their legs sprawl out in different directions, careless with youth. The hairs on their youthful heads nearly touch, and their elbows nudge one another as they support necks; the connection is subtle. These three children remind me of a pinwheel in the grass. All it needs is the right breeze to start spinning in motion. All are dressed in black; petals on the flower that is Hitsuzen._

_Part of me wants to reach down and pluck each petal off and scatter it to the wind. I would start with the girl, because though her intentions are seeping with good, she is, and always will be, the catalyst of misfortune. Her smiles are everyone else's bad luck. But such is the balance of nature._

_Next I would have to pluck away the tall boy; for no other reason than I would have to go through him to reach the last one. Oh, that sumptuous delicacy protected by this boy. I sense a great devotion behind those amber eyes. It burns so hot; I might be scalded in any attempts to remove him. Such desire is dangerous to with hold. I admire his reserve._

_But let's say that I do avoid those fires and discard his corpse alongside hers. What would that leave me? The prize. The last of the petals would be the sweetest. Unaware of his need for the burning one, this petal would be bare and ripe for the picking. How delicious. Perhaps a small part of him knows this vulnerability, or else he wouldn't be staring at me this whole time. There's that nervous twitch that sets his eyes a light with fear. I hear his pulse from here._

_What I wouldn't give to hold these petals in my cold hand. Alas, the stem of this flower is too mighty for me. Someone of greater power will have to cut **her** down. Until then my petals… I'm watching._

**-xxxHolic-**

" What's wrong Watanuki? Do you see something up in that tree? Is it a bird?"

" N-no, it's nothing. I thought I saw a butterfly…"

" Oh, those are so pretty!"

" Himawari-chan is so kind to ask though!"

" Well, I did hear that idiots stare vacantly."

" WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?"

"Oh, shut up…"

End.


	2. Terms of Agreement

xxx-Holic

One-shot/Horror/Fantasy

PG

Disclaimer: I don't own them, but I enjoy playing with them. Reviews hearted, flames accepted, and posted to my cupboards to be mocked and laughed at in the morning while making coffee.

Note: Un-beta'd due to none of my friends being writers, or knowing xxx-Holic at all.

**Terms of Agreement**

_Watanuki…_

Gently, fog lapped at his fevered skin, and Watanuki shifted minutely to better take in his surroundings. He wanted to panic, but somehow found his heart unable to beat faster. There was no adrenaline coursing through his veins. The waves of white continued to wash across his whole slender frame; their washing timed to some unheard heartbeat. But the rhythm was not Watanuki's. He remained placid, watching the white shift all around him. It felt much like a far shore of safety; unknown and foreign to his senses.

_Watanuki…_

The air pulsed and warmed his flesh; skin tingled merrily. Watanuki placed a hand against his forehead, allowing heavy eyelids to slide shut.

Where am I? How did I get here?

_Watanuki, please…_

Fatigue began to seep in from the rolling mists, through his skin, straight into his bones.

Why can't I move? Why don't I care?

A thin wisp of fog calmly wrapped itself around Watanuki's leg, tightening and tugging vaguely at the fabric. Another did the same about his wrist, and a third one caressed his neck.

With great effort, Watanuki opened his eyes to gaze icily at the intrusion. Each warm, feathered strand pulled dully until he felt his body begin to sink beneath the surface.

Still he could not panic.

Idiot, _I can't follow you there…_

And the chains are tighter now. They begin to burn cloth and skin alike wherever they touch. Knowing he is now too far below the fog, Watanuki does not bother to reach out above him. The air is becoming thicker, harder to breathe.

Am I going to die? The young man ponders this, still calm, and his vision blurs. Air in his lungs vanishes.

Silence.

No heartbeat.

But it is warm.

He is not sure, but perhaps he smells his father's cooking.

_Watanuki…_

**-xxxHolic-**

Yuko allowed a distant smile to form upon her lips. She rested her head on the arm of the davenport, and lazily put out her cigarette.

" **You won't see the spirits. And… The spirits will no longer be attracted to your blood. **Those were our terms. And once a price has been paid, it may not be refunded or exchanged."

* * *

Bold dialogue was taken right out of Volume One of xxxHolic.  



	3. Diatribe

Word-of-the-day:

**Diatribe**: (noun) 1: a bitter and abusive speech or writing

2: ironical or satirical criticism

xxx-Holic  
PG  
One-shot/vignette/vague  
Watanuki/Doumeki

"…You're just an emotionless nuisance! And you're a moocher, too! You do nothing useful for anyone, but yet somehow only good things come your way! How is it that someone like _you_ can get everything he wants with out so much as lifting an eyebrow? I hate you Doumeki Shizuka! I hate you because all I do is try and I always end up with nothing!"

The raven hair on top of Watanuki's head was soaked through, and plastered itself to his skull. He paused in his diatribe, which had been going on for quite some time, to catch his breath and take in the reaction of the one whom the tirade was directed at. Mustering his most menacing glare he stared the boy down for as long as the pounding rain would allow him to do so. Soon, however, Watanuki looked to the ground as the drops were stinging his face harshly.

_Silent_ Doumeki; always saying nothing, always letting it go; opened his mouth and spoke.

" You're wrong, Watanuki."

The use of his actual name reeled the shorter boy's attention back to Doumeki. Internally, he marveled at Doumeki's ability to look stone faced even as large raindrops collided mercilessly with his skin. But he kept silent, for once, himself. It was obvious the exorcist was not finished.

" I try all the time, probably harder than you do, to get what I want. _I'm _the one who goes out of his way to be useful, but always ends up hurt. _You_ mooch from me, even as we stand here. _You _get off freely. Watanuki, you end up empty handed because you never start out with anything in mind. _I,_ however, know exactly what it is I want."

Thunder growled above them. Watanuki chewed over these words, trying to find the best angle to gain momentum for another attack. He didn't find one. Instead, he found himself staring into Doumeki's narrow amber eyes; sulking in defeat. He didn't know how, but the moment the other boy had opened his lips, he had lost the argument; the weight of his words pressing into Watanuki's conscience like a sharp knife, and their meaning the vicious sting.

" Will you ever stop trying?" Watanuki asked.

" No."

" Why not? Isn't it hopeless?"

How rare his smiles were, " Every once and a while I _do_ get some compensation. Something I _need_. That alone will keep me going."

Watanuki entered the front square to the shop, but stopped and mumbled, " How long will you keep going?"

" Until my hands are no longer empty."

" What kind of compensation is it that makes it so you can continue like this? What is it you need?"

A hint of desperation nuzzled itself on the fringes of the boy's questions.

" The satisfaction I get -."

The sky roared again, swallowing Doumeki's voice, but Watanuki read the words off his lips loud and clear.

"-_ knowing you're alive._"

* * *

A/N: The reason "silent" italicized up there is because that's what Shizuka can be translated as in Japanese. I was making a play-on-words… Get it? Also, the characterization seems off, but I don't feel like fixing it up. This was just out of the word-of-the-day from Hope you enjoyed. 


	4. Sui Generis

xxxHolic

PG

Mild EYE spoiler

**Sui Generis**

Doumeki couldn't help himself when it came to Watanuki. The boy was a magnet for disaster, even in things unspiritly. But mostly in subjects of the opposite sex. For example, at the moment his friend, albeit unacknowledged friend, was constructing a dance of such beligerence it was hard even for one so stoic to remain that way. The dance consisted of ferocious growls and sudden soft mewls of frustration that were undeniably being timed to violent spasms of the arms, legs, and hips. On occasion Watanuki would put in a very speedy twirl to emphasize a particular point.

Doumeki couldn't do anything for him either. He really didn't want to lose his OTHER eye.

And besides, if his calculations were correct, the dance would soon end abruptly as Watanuki would finally sense his presence; Himawari's conversation with another classmate ended. The boy in front of him did something very awkward, well that is to say, more awkward for him. Watanuki's whole body went rigid, and only his head began to twist around behind him.

" What are YOU doing here?"

Ah, recognition. Doumeki knew what to do here. He had studied Watanuki enough to know his place, and how to act around this creature of habit. And so...

" Just watching an idiot dance."

Doumeki walked on passed the sputtering boy, who was now creating a different kind of display: violent, shaking, strangling motions. Watanuki really was physically verbal as a species. All of his messages were accompanied be some sort of physical motion, that needed to be read to understand. Thankfully, Doumeki had read them all, and knew this dance of threats was only a bluff, and his life remained quite safe.

Watanuki's screaming hit a higher decibil and Doumeki, as usual put a finger in his ear, trying to communicate in Watanuki's own language his discomfort, but apparently he used the wrong dialect, because it only made the boy yell louder. Doumeki didn't care much what he was saying in that high pitched scream, and so Doumeki left him standing there in the yard of the school.

After all he had to go to archery club. With out the practice how could he hope to keep safe this unique specimen? With out Doumeki, the species would go extinct. Doumeki smiled, and of course no one was around to bear witness, when he thought, ' Watanuki Kimihiro. You really are in a class all your own.'

**End.**

**sui generis ** soo-eye-JEN-uh-ris adjective

: constituting a class alone : unique, peculiar


End file.
